Cabo, a 4 month-old pup rescued from Salty Creek was found emaciated and alone. He is being cared for at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. The facility received a new rescue truck after a large donation. The event was held at the Center in Laguna Beach on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach receives a new rescue truck after receiving a large donation. The Center has already rescued two 4 month-old, seal pups along with other mammals. The event was held at the Center in Laguna Beach on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

Cabo, a 4month-old pup rescued from Salty Creek was found emaciated and alone. He is being cared for at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. The facility received a new rescue truck after a large donation. The event was held at the Center in Laguna Beach on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach receives a new rescue truck after receiving a large donation. The Center has already rescued two 4 month-old, seal pups along with other mammals. The event was held at the Center in Laguna Beach on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

Cabo, a 4 month-old pup rescued from Salty Creek was found emaciated and alone. He is being cared for at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. The facility received a new rescue truck after a large donation. The event was held at the Center in Laguna Beach on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

Cabo, a 4month-old pup rescued from Salty Creek was found emaciated and alone. He is being cared for at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. The facility received a new rescue truck after a large donation. The event was held at the Center in Laguna Beach on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

Daniela Moore, Director of Development for the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, touches the side of the new rescue truck that was donated to the center. The Center has already rescued two 4 month-old, seal pups along with other mammals. The event was held at the Center in Laguna Beach on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

One of three California Sea Lions is fed herring at The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. The Sea Lion was transferred from another facility and is staying at the center until it’s release. The Center has already rescued two 4 month-old, seal pups along with other mammals on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

Cabo, a 4 month-old pup rescued from Salty Creek was found emaciated and alone. He is being cared for at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. The facility received a new rescue truck after a large donation. The event was held at the Center in Laguna Beach on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

A new pup named Heartbreaker, was rescued only yesterday and is being cared for at The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. The facility just received a new rescue truck after a large donation. The Center has already rescued two 4 month-old, seal pups along with other mammals. The event was held at the Center in Laguna Beach on October 6, 2017. OCR-L-TRUCK-1007 (Photo by Karen Tapia, Contributing Photographer)

LAGUNA BEACH Cabo, a 4-month-old sea lion pup found at Salt Creek Beach last week is the first sea lion of the season to be rescued by a team from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

On Friday, Oct. 6 the pup, which weighed only 25 pounds, was being tube-fed with a solution of pedialyte, karo syrup, nutrical, fish, vitamins, said Krysta Higuchi, with the marine mammal center. The pup should have been at least 15 pounds heavier. As she improves, she will be transitioned to an all-fish diet.

“Normally, we don’t see pups until December or January,” Higuchi said of the pup found Sept. 30.

Sea lion pups are born by the thousands in June on Channel Islands rookeries in San Nicolas and San Miguel Islands. After four years of mass strandings, pups in 2016 were looking healthier. But center officials don’t know what Cabo’s early stranding could mean for the upcoming 2017-18 season.

Last year was the fourth year of mass strandings of sea lions off the California coast that NOAA scientists attribute to a warming ocean and lack of food for the marine mammals.

Statewide, 2,100 sea lions were in rehabilitation facilities in 2016. At the worst during the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-declared unusual mortality event in 2015, 3,300 pups came ashore, dying or dead, taxing resource-limited response centers across the state. The strandings stretched the resources of marine mammal rescue centers from San Diego to Sausalito.

The center also rescued a Heartbreaker, a 4-month-old female Northern fur seal on Thursday, Oct. 5 from near where a new house was under construction on Beach Road at Capistrano Beach.The animal was extremely emaciated and weak, Higuchi said.

The fur seal rescue was unusual because the species is not generally found this far south, Higuchi said. Northern fur seals typically live in the Northern Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center last rescued Northern fur seals in 2015. In that year, they took in 10. Before that the center had only rescued 10 of the animals over a period of 10 years.

Keith Matassa, executive director of the center, said he is not certain what the two recent rescues indicate, but added the next few weeks might be telling about what lies ahead in a usually slow two months. Reports from marine biologists who monitor the young pups in the Channel Islands have not yet made their report.

Meanwhile, Matassa said, he and his staff are gearing up for the worst.

To aid with upcoming rescue efforts, the center on Friday unveiled a new 2017 Ram 3500 flatbed trick that was made possible by a $45,000 grant from the Donald Slavik Family Foundation and Tuttle-Click.

The larger vehicle will make it easier for rescue teams to respond across their entire coverage area, which includes the Orange County coastline, Higuchi said.

What to do if you see a stranded marine mammal

Please keep your distance from the animal.

Federal law prohibits touching, feeding, harassing, removing or returning a beached mammal to the water.

Sea lions and seals “haul-out” of the water and rest on land. Not all animals need help.

Erika Ritchie reports on South Orange County coastal communities, military issues and Camp Pendleton for the OC Register. She explores everything from coastal access, environmental issues and marine life to city government, animal welfare and quality of life. She’s won many awards including first place in news (2016) by the Orange County Press Club for her coverage of record numbers of whale entanglements off the California coast. Erika’s covered military change of command and seen military affairs firsthand from the sea aboard a battleship, air from a MV-22 Osprey, and land including Pendleton’s International war games and San Clemente Island’s ordnance ranges. Journalism allows Erika’s penchant for telling human stories of conflict, struggle and joy. Her monthly Everyday Hero feature does just that, highlighting achievements of some of Orange County’s most dedicated volunteers and non-profit leaders. Since joining the Register in 2001, she’s at times covered every city in South Orange County delving into development, housing, transportation, county government and social issues. She’s often written about Saddleback Church and Pastor Rick Warren’s emerging national and global roles. Erika’s passionate about animals and outdoor adventure. She runs, stand-up paddles and skis - both alpine and x-country. She frequents Mammoth Lakes and Mountain for hiking, biking & skiing and for her dogs to frolic in the snow and lakes. She grew up bilingual in German and conversational in French.

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